Lottery grant means Stukeley drawings will be preserved

Spalding Gentlemen’s Society has received £9,800 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for an exciting project, The Conservation and Sharing of 44 William Stukeley Drawings in Spalding.

Led by volunteers, alongside professional conservationists whose expertise and materials the grant will now enable, the project which focuses on ensuring these important drawings will be preserved and shared with visitors from the local communities and further afield.

The drawings, which date from the 1720s to the 1760s include studies of Stukeley’s Stamford house and garden, but there are also drawings of his birthplace in Holbeach, his house in Grantham and his final resting place in Kentish Town.

They are unique and provide details not found anywhere else, their importance being recently highlighted by articles in the Antiquaries Journal and the British Art Journal.

Stukeley (1687-1765) was born in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, and retained a lifelong love of the county, living in Boston, Grantham and Stamford as well as London. He was a friend of Maurice Johnson, who founded the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society, and was a founding member of the society.

SGS company secretary Michael Chisholm said: “We are excited to have received the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and are confident the project will support both academic and personal studies.”